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The best I can say about The Alchemist is that it's short. It's a poor story that can be summarized with the phrase "Follow ur dreams" and nothing more, save your time and read a synopsis so you can get your co worker off your back.
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Dec 10, 2022 23:07
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Gertrude Perkins posted:I have encountered a cow orker who to date has recommended I read Paolo Coelho about forty times. I have osmosed mostly bad-to-bland things about his work from people whose tastes align with mine - should I just bite the bullet and read the Alchemist or something? It’s about as well written as an MBA fable style book but with less useful lessons.
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Dec 11, 2022 00:00
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I had to read The Alchemist in high school and it sucked the whole time. Do not read it, it’s a waste of time
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Dec 11, 2022 07:12
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SniperWoreConverse posted:I mean, it is kinda hosed up that I can't keep the ebook. But the more I think about it the more I'm starting to suspect some of the way things are set up are kinda bs it's no different from not being able to keep a book from a regular library(i.e. you can do it but it's against the library's rules of borrowing books)
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Dec 12, 2022 00:17
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I could swear there was a line in The Illuminatus! Trilogy like "They say John Dillinger didn't break out of prison, when the time was right, he simply walked through the wall," but I can't find it or my copy of the book. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or have the exact quote and context?
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Dec 12, 2022 07:20
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GWBBQ posted:I could swear there was a line in The Illuminatus! Trilogy like "They say John Dillinger didn't break out of prison, when the time was right, he simply walked through the wall," but I can't find it or my copy of the book. Does anyone know what I'm talking about or have the exact quote and context? Page 129. 
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Dec 14, 2022 18:10
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I don't know where to post thoughts on the book I'm currently reading if it doesn't fit into any of the big threads. Posting in "What did you just finish?" seems dishonest.
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Dec 23, 2022 16:39
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FPyat posted:I don't know where to post thoughts on the book I'm currently reading if it doesn't fit into any of the big threads. Posting in "What did you just finish?" seems dishonest. Right here is fine IMO
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Dec 23, 2022 16:55
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Could someone post a Discord invite? The most recent one in the thread has expired.
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Dec 29, 2022 08:13
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Surprise T Rex posted:Could someone post a Discord invite? The most recent one in the thread has expired. https://discord.gg/pPAmyQGw
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Dec 29, 2022 08:44
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Is there a “Shameful! Books you’ve never read!” Thread similar to the one in Cinema Discusso? I thought there was but I can’t find it.
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Jan 2, 2023 06:39
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That's just https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3643994
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Jan 2, 2023 11:08
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i've read a good amount of books, but i think i'm only ashamed at not having read don quixote and in the name of the rose yet
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Jan 2, 2023 18:38
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a possible 2023 resolution
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Jan 2, 2023 18:38
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ulvir posted:i've read a good amount of books, but i think i'm only ashamed at not having read don quixote and in the name of the rose yet Having read both of those this year, I can confirm that they're both pretty great times!
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Jan 2, 2023 21:36
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We did Rose as Botm a few years ago: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3766791&pagenumber=1&perpage=40&userid=0#post457021305
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Jan 2, 2023 21:46
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ulvir posted:i've read a good amount of books, but i think i'm only ashamed at not having read don quixote and in the name of the rose yet Don Quixote was required reading in my final Spanish class in high school, which is as much as a book can possibly have stacked against it, and I still loved it. It's a really good book
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Jan 2, 2023 22:04
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Gertrude Perkins posted:Having read both of those this year, I can confirm that they're both pretty great times! Hieronymous Alloy posted:We did Rose as Botm a few years ago: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3766791&pagenumber=1&perpage=40&userid=0#post457021305 WarpDogs posted:Don Quixote was required reading in my final Spanish class in high school, which is as much as a book can possibly have stacked against it, and I still loved it. It's a really good book the best part is that I have them both in my shelf, too. no excuse, really
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Jan 2, 2023 22:11
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I loved don quixote at 15, loved it at 25, loved it at 35, i'm lovin' it
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Jan 2, 2023 23:18
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ulvir posted:the best part is that I have them both in my shelf, too. no excuse, really Umberto Eco would commend this
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Jan 3, 2023 08:53
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Umberto Eco would commend this hell yeah
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Jan 3, 2023 09:23
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Yea that was the thread! And already added Name of the rose to my shameful list as I loved the movie and Umberto Eco in general
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Jan 3, 2023 18:36
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My shameful admission: well too numerous to count really. But I will go with: of the Divine Comedy, I have only read Inferno despite having all three
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Jan 3, 2023 19:29
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Bilirubin posted:My shameful admission: well too numerous to count really. But I will go with: of the Divine Comedy, I have only read Inferno despite having all three no one has read the other two, not even dante
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Jan 4, 2023 16:46
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Take the plunge! Okay! posted:Umberto Eco would commend this based eco
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Jan 4, 2023 17:01
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I wish I'd gotten further into David Copperfield.
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Jan 5, 2023 02:04
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Book's still there, give it another shot
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Jan 5, 2023 03:19
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My main problem with Dickens is that most of the editions of his works I have are old (I guess some of them over 100 years old, seeing as how it's the 20s again) and bulky. I finished Great Expectations just fine because it was a Penguin Popular Classic.
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Jan 5, 2023 07:14
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DQ is basically completely modern and would be a better tv show than 90% of the trash that came out
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Jan 12, 2023 13:54
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The Satsuma Complex is really putting me in a mood for a slice of Battenberg. The main character of the first part keeps eating Battenberg.
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Jan 12, 2023 21:47
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Is there a book of classic Aesop fables for adults? Where they don't make things too cutesy and tell you the history and other versions and stuff?
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Jan 13, 2023 02:37
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Teriyaki Hairpiece posted:Is there a book of classic Aesop fables for adults? Where they don't make things too cutesy and tell you the history and other versions and stuff? This looks like it has some of that (look inside has a bunch of pages): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/aesops-fables-9780199540754 https://www.amazon.com/Aesops-Fables-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199540756
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Jan 13, 2023 07:51
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Thinking of finding a place to sell my books other than ebay - is it possible to make sales on Amazon if you're not one of the established resellers?
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Jan 13, 2023 23:33
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After the previous discussion of Don Quixote I decided to grab the Edith Grossman translation from the library which I hadn't read before I am thrilled to report that this book still rules. I'm 50 pages in and have genuinely laughed out loud multiple times.
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Jan 29, 2023 05:58
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Trying to decide which translation of War and Peace to try is actually more interesting and frustrating that I expected! Do I want the french translated, or in footnotes? Do I care about public domain, or no?
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Feb 4, 2023 19:43
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So, last year I took on the challenge of reading the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo. It was great, I really enjoyed it, and it took six months and could have used some abridgment. It's not the only 19th-century French book I have interest in -- I kinda want to read Les Miserables, too. The thing is, I've heard that Victor Hugo has even more of a tendency to go off on tangents than Dumas, and while apparently Hugo's asides about history and architecture are somewhat more high-concept than Dumas having his protagonist spend an entire chapter convincing a tertiary character to do hashish with him, I'm not really sure I have it in me to do that again. I can get an unabridged ebook free off Project Gutenberg; the only abridged ebook I've been able to find is on Kindle and so will require me to give up $2.50 to Jeff Beez. My question is, how much would I be giving up by going abridged, and what would I be signing myself up for by going unabridged?
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Feb 8, 2023 22:29
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Never read abridged works
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Feb 8, 2023 22:31
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loquacius posted:So, last year I took on the challenge of reading the unabridged Count of Monte Cristo. It was great, I really enjoyed it, and it took six months and could have used some abridgment. It's not the only 19th-century French book I have interest in -- I kinda want to read Les Miserables, too. The thing is, I've heard that Victor Hugo has even more of a tendency to go off on tangents than Dumas, and while apparently Hugo's asides about history and architecture are somewhat more high-concept than Dumas having his protagonist spend an entire chapter convincing a tertiary character to do hashish with him, I'm not really sure I have it in me to do that again. There's a big Waterloo essay which is not really all that interesting if you're not interested in battles (most people skip it) with some plot relevant stuff at the very end. That's it in Les Miserable everything else is very readable even the digressions on the culture of nuns or Paris sewers. Don't go abridged.
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Feb 8, 2023 23:41
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StrixNebulosa posted:Trying to decide which translation of War and Peace to try is actually more interesting and frustrating that I expected! Do I want the french translated, or in footnotes? Do I care about public domain, or no? A very fraught question. I don't read Russian, so I can only give my perspective as a fan in English. I read Constance Garnett first and loved it. Then pevear and volkhonsky and it was fine. Then Maude. They're all good, but I guess I'd recommend Briggs next? I prefer my French translated, but that is your call. This is a good article on the differences/issues: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n10/michael-wood/crabby-prickly-bitter-harsh There's a pay wall, but I think you get a certain number free. Let me know if you can't access and I can DM you a printout.
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Feb 9, 2023 00:53
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PatMarshall posted:A very fraught question. I don't read Russian, so I can only give my perspective as a fan in English. I read Constance Garnett first and loved it. Then pevear and volkhonsky and it was fine. Then Maude. They're all good, but I guess I'd recommend Briggs next? I prefer my French translated, but that is your call. This is a good article on the differences/issues: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n10/michael-wood/crabby-prickly-bitter-harsh I can access it, thank you! I ultimately purchased the Briggs translation after comparing first pages and reading about the different ones, and figure I can return to purchase another (or get from gutenberg) later. There's something truly interesting about reading about translations, speaking of. I only know English but the art of it has drawn me for ages, and I can feel the difference in certain novels - I read a book translated from German once, and it had a different-yet-similar uncanny valley effect while reading, and it was completely different from a Japanese mystery novel I read (damned if I can remember the title or whodunnit, but I remember it was donnit with some kind of speakers or audio trick), and then Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment still resonates) and 2666 and onwards.
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Feb 9, 2023 01:16
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